There is not such a law in the US preventing any children to be a passenger on a motorcycle. But I Canada, a new law on the books wants to prohibit youngsters under 14 from riding as passengers on a motorcycle. Ontario Bill 117 is in the initial stages of new legislation, having been given its first reading as a private member’s bill in the Legislature late last month. Justification? 200 motorcycle passengers under age 15 were injured in the decade up to 2005, a dozen of them under 5 years old and existing “Regulation 596, subsection 10(3) of Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act stating that: “A person who is a passenger on a motorcycle operated on a highway and who is occupying the seat referred to in clause (2) (b) shall sit astride the seat in such a manner that his or her feet are placed upon the foot rests referred to in clause (2) (b).” The second reading of Bill 117 is scheduled for Dec. 4, and if it passes that, a committee will debate it. If unopposed, it could perhaps become law by spring. What do you think?

31 Responses to “Young Children Forbidden On Motorcycles?”

So 200 kids were injured in 10 years whilst being on a motorcycle, but how many kids were injured while riding their push bikes and skateboards? Probably more kids fall off their first push bike and break a bone in a year than 10 years on a motorcycle.

Another example of the “Nanny state” trying to protect us from ourselves.

Having said that I will not let my 15 year old daughter get on the back of my bike just in case some dope runs into me. It is different if we are riding off road, then she can hop on the back for a quick lap around the farm or bush track (providing she has ALL the protective gear on). As parents we are the ones to make the decision about the safety of our children and most parents will make the right choice we don’t need the governments to make decisions for us.

I hope the law does not go through otherwise skateboards will be next.

Canada is a socialist state. They dictate life and the protection of life. Our neighbor to the north and it’s citizens wanted free health care. Canada delivered. Now, life and its fullness is legislated. Look out America. Our U.S. government wants to do the same. Beware of the socialist democrat.

My so has been riding with me since 3yrs old but I always felt it safer for me to have him sitting in front of m where I had total control of him and my m/c. Eventually the CHP stopped and ticketed me. They said he could no longer ride with me that way plus I’ll have to leave him on the side of the busy freeway as I did not have the correct seat for a passenger. Yeah right like I’m going to do that.. He was not familiar with antique Indian seats and eventually I convinved him that I did have a Chum-me (dual) seat so as to allow him to ride behind me.
I’m not expert here but I would venture to say that more kids (and adults for that matter) would be saved if they wore helmets in their cars. Now does anyone think that would even be proposed?????. I think not.

All european countries with a republican president have national healthcare. Kephas, It has nothing to do with socialism. It has to do with the fact that to have access to good medecine is considered a right for all citizens, whatever their health and wealth. The same universal right as education provided to everybody with your tax dollars.

look at all the advances and modern inventions and discoveries in medicine. the past 20 years..all advances have come from our nation or nations that have free market health care…national healthcare attracts substandard practices and substandard doctors..the best health care in the world is in the u.s. and you must pay for good services..free market.

To all you folks , Canada happens to be the most beautiful and one of the best countries in the world to live. Come on up for a visit and spend those hard earned US dollars and get more than your money is worth.
Your right though, with kids on bikes that should be the parents decision not the Canadian government. That is what helmet laws and meant to do “protect motorcyclists”.

Actually most states in the US have laws that prohibit children and midgets from riding on a motorcycle. California’s VC states “Every passenger on a motorcycle or a motorized bicycle shall keep his feet on the footrests while such vehicle is in motion.” If you can’t reach, you are too young.

And for the commenters here are the facts:
* a greater percentage of people own guns in Canada than in the US.
* the US taxpayer spends 3X more on health are but lives on average 4 years less than a Canadian.
* the US started all this socialist nonsense by guaranteeing free education to all it’s citizens. From the comments on this board it is obviously not working.

I was at a bike show this weekend judging, I saw a guy riding a 2.3 litre Rocket 3 with a kid on board in the car park quite rapidly.The child was on the front and less than 2 years of age he also spun and slid his wheel on part of gravel track,
If the child had been injured it would have come back on the show.
Laws are made to control the minority but it affects the majority.

Say, what…???
Since when is a Single Government Payer, that pays 70% of every one’s health costs, and determines 100% of what is to be paid not Socialized Medicine…????

Moreover, if you think it’s such a great system go look up this URL.

RE:
“… good medicine is considered a right for all citizens…”

Hanzy, i don’t know where you come form but out Bil Of Rights doesn’t include medicine.
And it doesn’t include ABS or a bunch of other stuff that the One World Socialists are trying to cram down our throats.

Below is a little reality check on how wonderful the Canadian system (i understand the UK has similar problems) is supposed to be.

“… I was once a believer in socialized medicine. I don’t want to overstate my case: growing up in Canada, I didn’t spend much time contemplating the nuances of health economics. I wanted to get into medical school—my mind brimmed with statistics on MCAT scores and admissions rates, not health spending. But as a Canadian, I had soaked up three things from my environment: a love of ice hockey; an ability to convert Celsius into Fahrenheit in my head; and the belief that government-run health care was truly compassionate. What I knew about American health care was unappealing: high expenses and lots of uninsured people. When HillaryCare shook Washington, I remember thinking that the Clintonistas were right.

My health-care prejudices crumbled not in the classroom but on the way to one. On a subzero Winnipeg morning in 1997, I cut across the hospital emergency room to shave a few minutes off my frigid commute. Swinging open the door, I stepped into a nightmare: the ER overflowed with elderly people on stretchers, waiting for admission. Some, it turned out, had waited five days. The air stank with sweat and urine. Right then, I began to reconsider everything that I thought I knew about Canadian health care. I soon discovered that the problems went well beyond overcrowded ERs. Patients had to wait for practically any diagnostic test or procedure, such as the man with persistent pain from a hernia operation whom we referred to a pain clinic—with a three-year wait list; or the woman needing a sleep study to diagnose what seemed like sleep apnea, who faced a two-year delay; or the woman with breast cancer who needed to wait four months for radiation therapy, when the standard of care was four weeks….”

James,
Kids on motorcycles are banned because of political shit and are caused by morons acting out your favorite verb. Morons are going to continue breeding and continue buying motorcycles if you believe the, ooops, politicians.

Screw the bleeding heart compassion is what really needs to be done. Get your damned hands out of my pocket to slow down someone’s death. Let them die. It is a part of their life, so let it happen. THe greedy bastards that think they can play god of some sort with my money are either politiciqans or the are playing politics,

You want people to stop the political shit you had damn well better be ready to hear a lot more media coverage of these politicos singing their swan song.
Rant off

RE:
“… The 60’s 70’s and 80’s … greatest time of freedom mankind had known…”

I have no idea where you were in that time, but i’m here to tell ya, (from what i saw) more children were neglected in the 60’s and 70’s “peace and love” era than i’ve ever seen before or since.
Parents letting 10 year old kids smoke dope, run around dirty, eating junk….etc….etc. etc… i could go on and on but you probably wouldn’t believe it.

What Mike is telling ya is that we’re all sick and tired of hearing all that “…. it’s for the children …” crap from people like Hillary Clinton who use that excuse to control the rest of us.

People of that ilk (perjortive intended) are far too willing to lead us down the slippery slope to slavery while trying to engineer a “perfect world.” Some do it with a malevolence and some with their heads stuff up their ass… Regardless, the end result is the same.

The cold hard truth of the World is that “enlightened-self-interest” is the beast you can get out of humanity, PERIOD. There ain’t any “noble beasts.”

My self interest is in assuring that my tribe survives and prospers.
What you do with your tribe is your business…. Stay outta mine.

Nicker has made the point. I have some discussion with you about “60’s 70’s and 80’s were probably the greatest time of freedom mankind had known.”

Lemme see, in the USA, we had a slew of inadequate regimes from the Democrats and Republicans during which time we have had several internal wars within the borders of the USA. War on Drugs was a waste of time, money and lives. Other wars on taxpayers. Seizures of personal property and real estate for the “good of the country community etc. We have had the Supreme Court legislate from the bench. We have judges brought in under the popularity of advertising campaigns. We have a stupid-assed, helmet law in twenty states as well as other forms of warfare on motorcyclists that all originated during that era. Then we have the false war of freedom of choice versus the right to life. In addition we have a MD. jailed when he legally and painlessly provided a method for the right to die. Taxation has increased. Credit Card Companies have needed a bailout because of loosened criteria to qualify and this all originated during this era. James, the only thing you brought from that era was a drug addicts denial of the facts. This was not great freedom. This was not liberty and we certainly aren’t headed back to it with your outlook.

Now let us look at your stance on morons that I may not have touched upon. Our court systems were stupid enough to consider a lawsuit against a university system dealing with literacy and the lawsuit claimed that in all fairness to morons you did not to be able to read. I am certain that in theory this passed even though it was stuck down. My certainty comes from folks that cannot adhere to the Constitution of whatever state they live in much less the Constitution of the United States. These are the idiots that are in government and the ones that put them there. We lost wisdom for certain in that era although I believe it was a long term illness before that.

Finally, before this gets long winded, get rid of your “god” factor. Kids deserve to get hurt and die just as adults deserve it. This is the only true guarantee in life. To hell with the taxes as being a sure thing. The taxes are only whatever level of competence and incompetence that you are willing to pay for. My bet is that you have no idea on who is paying for what and why there were backroom agreements made.

Silence will work here for you.

Oh yeah, you are literate and most probably numerate. That being said, let the people young and old take their chances. If that does not work for you, then you help these people. Do not influence my government to legislate stupidity. Legislating adults and parents under the guise of child welfare is a bullshit maneuver that has failed solidly in this country and will always fail in this country. It fails for the same reason that people wear helmets. They all buy into the safety aspect coupled with the sanctity of life and all that fuzzy warm bullshit. They (politicians and government employees [servants])can’t even take care of the vets from any damned war they got us into and you have the nerve to suggest that they can take care of anybody else including themselves is absolutely ludicrous.

1) Kephas- Canada is a Country, not a state!
2) All- If the parents of those that ride don’t want the politicians to dictate what is safe for their children then they need to speak out to their elected officials and tell them so, but I must say there are a lot of parents out there that should have practiced birth control.
3) Yes we have issues with our system. It isn’t perfect but it is quite reasurring to know that if we get injured or sick, my wife delivers a baby or any other issue that steers us toward a hospital, we don’t have to remortgage the house, sell they bike or anything else to pay the medical fees. We don’t have to wonder if some doctor, paid by the insurance company, is going to find some dirt that is going to allow the insurance company to deny paying for the time spent there. Come to think of it most of us don’t even think of it at all. The system isn’t free. It is paid for through our income tax system. Ask most Canadians and they will tell you that free medicare is high on their priorty list. It certainly was of high priority based on our most recent federal election.
4)Karen- If you can’t enter Canada because you have a DWI…. GOOD! We have enough of our own to take us out and we don’t need any more.

Gerry is right. Canada is a wonderful country. The people are friendly, the countryside is magnificent, the summers hot and the winters frigid cold. Come on up and see for yourself. Given the current state of the US dollar you will get abouot 20% more for you money here than you will there. We will also give you back your tax money when you leave the country. Just keep all of your receipts.

We don’t need to carry guns and I’ll take a minus 30° blizzard over a catagory 5 hurricane anyday.

I think everybody has had a good point or two to throw into the fray here.I know we all have had a bad day out in the world, at the expensence of a doctor or blind motorist.It dose us all good to vent a little. I always thought I was born about 200 years too late as I would have loved the freedom of getting on a horse and exploring the West and maybe having a chance to live somewhere that was void of Morons and their childern(1%er’s,NFL,NBA,terrorist,the congress,the senate and other such gangs).Sure it was a hard life and there was no health care to speak of except the local medicine man.I could caring a gun to protect myself and provide some food.If you were a good person you could get along with the locals.Then came the Domination and Greed of people just as it had been for hundreds of years before and now we all have to put up with this thing called Progress! Is it really(remember Nicker just wants to survive with his tribe and doesn’t care about others, Mike just wants to be left alone in his world and the Canadians just want us to come and spend money then go home).The people that are in power are exactly where they want to be and in most part could care less about the rest of us as long as we dont BUCK-UP to them to much.They will do what it takes to get along and take their Free Medical care and great Retirement after (Serving) only one term!!! They all get their perks what ever they maybe.Once Elected they have the say for at least four to six years,So be educated when you vote next time!!
Was I an abused child? Yes my father sold his Harley’s and Indians long before I was born and therefore never rode me around on the seat without a helment but I did get to ride in Pontiac’s and Oldsmobiles which none of the furture generation will likely get to do.Yes I felt the belt in his hand more than I cared to but to this date I dont feel as though I have turned out to be a moron.I have a college education and I paid for it by myself by working and studying hard.I wasn’t the most popular kid in school But I didn’t have to join a gang to get by. I have worked hard all my life and have paid taxes and dont really care to give more(as in Trillion dollar bailouts)but those that have Shall have more!!
Just give me a little salt and a quite place to live(no more leaf blowers!!what good are they anyway)and I’ll be happy right along with the the rest of you.And I’ll keep my guns thank you very much!!!!

I agree with Nicker and Greenwald, I was alive and kicking in the 60’s-70’s-80’s and from my perspective it was not freedom fest described above! Minimum wage was low, interest was high, and politicians were just as fucked in the head as they are today.
The atomic doomsday loomed large, drugs became rampant, and gangs were on every downtown corner… Reaganomics never really “trickled down”, and from all this crap somehow credit cards appeared in every wallet, irresponsible behavior gave rise to AIDS, HERPES, and a host of other lesser social diseases.
So if some idiot wants to ride his kid around on a bike, so be it. Maybe they will both be fine or maybe they get hurt or killed, if so, let it be. It is not our right to stop someone from being a dumbass unless they can potentially cause US harm.

We are all hoping that the Bill will not get carried into the next sitting of the Gov’t here after the Christmas break but the best part about the politicians taking time off is that we can keep slugging. As we get more petition signatures we gain more strength when it comes to presenting our concerns to the committee that will now be reading and deciding on the wording of the Bill that could become law. If we present our information as the rules provide, there is a chance that we can stop this from becoming a reality.

For more interviews including one with the woman that started all of this and other information visit http://www.bikerradiomagazine.com and on the front page, there is a link on the right hand side that says ” Bill 117 “.